Before NBC’s Parenthood hit the air last week, it’s backstory was already an interesting one.  First a Ron Howard-directed movie starring Steve Martin in 1989, a short-lived TV spin-off in 1990 starring Ed Begley, Jr. and now it’s back in a new incarnation.  To talk about this latest version, Howard, Executive Producer Jason Katims and series star Lauren Graham recently talked to the press about the making of this series as well as Graham’s stepping in after the original pilot was shot whenMaura Tierney had to unexpectedly drop out. First, though, Katims explained his thought process of putting the series together. “The idea of the show is to sort of try to explore as much about the experience of parenthood as we can. And that includes the joyous moments, the celebration of family. It includes the embarrassing funny moments …and some very dramatic stuff, which includes having a kid with special needs, which is something that is very much a part of the show. What I’m really proud of so far having now shot the first handful of episodes and seeing a few cuts, what I’m very proud of is that I think not only are we dealing with that subject matter in a way that honors it and is real, but it’s also done in a way that is not self-pitying and depressing.”

Tierney, best known for her long-running role of Abby Lockhart on ER, originally played the role of Sarah but had to drop out due to her battle against breast cancer. Now that she’s on her way to recovery, would Katims write a part for the Tierney in the future?“You know, I have no idea whether that would happen. I mean, obviously I love Maura, love the work that she does and right now she’s doing what she kind of needs to do to get healthy and get back to a place where we might have that conversation. But it’s nothing like that is anything that we’ve talk about yet.”

While Graham said she did not watch the original pilot shot with Tierney, she talked about the difficulties of stepping into the role and ensemble. “It felt really difficult in ways. I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to really do a great job. And I push anyway but then this just felt like (more…)

It was 1986 when the third season of NBC’s Night Court hit its stride. Sandwiched between huge hits like Cheers and LA Law didn’t hurt but the show, about a New York City night court, was hilarious in its own right and this third season can be yours today courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Video.

As season 3 opened, a bit of sadness hung in the air since actress Selma Diamond, who had played baliff Selma, had died during hiatus, only to be replaced by Florence Halop (who, ironically, would die a year later.) Another addition was in the female public defender/love interest for Judge Harry Stone (comedian/magician Harry Anderson). While the first two seasons saw more than one actress slide in and out of the role,Markie Post’s Christine Sullivan was popular enough with viewers, and clicked with the rest of the wacky cast, to stick around through the end of the series in 1992.

The season 3 DVD includes all 22 episodes from the third season and while there may not be a lot of extras, the episodes hold up very well and you’ll find yourself laughing at Anderson, Post and, of course, John Larroquette as the lecherous, no-morals lawyer Dan Fielding.  Larroquette would make the biggest splash with the award circuit by winning the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Emmy four years in a row from 1985 to 1988.  To get your copy of Night Court, go to www.nightcourtdvd.com.

Small Wonder: Some series should be sent off to the big TV heaven in the sky never to be heard from again while others, like the 80s situation comedySmall Wonder fell somewhere just shy of that. While many critics have called this show, about a family whose father builds a protype for the first girl robot, one of the worst series ever made. Thankfully, the people at the Shout Factory didn’t believe them and, honestly, I don’t either. There are small chuckles to be had with the show and the acting, writing and directing are not even close to being the best but was Gilligan’s Island a masterpiece?  No.  Small Wonder is painless and goes down pretty easy.

With the first season on DVD nearly 24 years after its debut, Small Wonder is mostly watchable because of Tiffany Brissette, who brought stiff life to V.I.C.I. (Voice Input Child Identicant). The family is predominatly forgettable but the show did have Edie McClurg (best known for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and her TV work on such shows as The Hogan Family) as a nosey neighbor.  There are a few bonus features, too, including commentaries with the creator and cast, original episode promos and a Fan Art Gallery.  Small Wonder is not the cream of the crop but it’s pretty enjoyable just the same.

FAMILY DRAMA AT ITS FINEST: While ABC Family has redefined itself as more than just a rerun landscape for Gilmore Girls and other lame sitcoms, the network has brought a number of quality, somewhat edgy dramas to television including the super popular Secret Life of the American Teenager and Greek. WithLincoln Heights, the network brought viewers a family drama that focused on a somewhat affluent black family that makes a conscious decision to move back to the urban neighborhood that they had once fled.

The first season of Lincoln Heights is now available on DVD and viewers who don’t know the Sutton family will want to check out the first 13 episodes of the series. While much of the series is about the new economically challenge neighborhood, there are also issues such as race, drugs, sex and plain old marital relationships but, probably due to the fact that the show’s producers come from shows like Soul Food and Prison Break, there is a briskness to the story telling that pulls you in quickly as a viewer.  Thumbs up on this edgy show with a big heart.

The only extra is a booklet with an introduction to the episodes by Executive Producer/showrunner Kathleen McGhee-Anderson but the episodes are strong enough on their own and definitely worth the purchase or rental. It’s also the kind of show parents should watch with their teens to form a bridge to be able to talk about sensitive, but important, topics.

One for the money…and two for the show and that show is starring a young, sexy Kurt Russell as none other than Elvis Presley. This 1979 TV movie was groundbreaking in the cinematic quality of this story about how Elvis Presley went from a young kid to being one of the biggest stars ever in the music industry. Russell was only in his late 20s when he took on the role and, wanting to break from the Disney-type roles that had pigeonholed him in the earlier stage of his career, this movie did it. The DVD of this film is coming to DVD on Tuesday shortly after Elvis would have turned 75 years old if he had lived.

Directed by feature film director John Carpenter (Halloween and The Thing, which also starred Russell), not only was the performance by Russell strong enough to warrant an Emmy nomination but also features great performances by Joe Mantegna, Ed Begley Jr, Season Hubley and Academy Award winner Shelley Winters as Elvis’s mother, Gladys.

The DVD also as some great extras from the time of the filming (Russell and Carpenter) as well as commentary on the movie from “The Voice of Elvis” Ronnie McDowell and Author Edie Hand. There are also rare clips from American Bandstand and a photo gallery of Elvis’s life. The DVD is available on Tuesday from The Shout Factory.

Until next time…keep watching!

Actress/comedian Aisha Tyler plays Lana Kane on FX's ARCHER.

The half hour animated comedy Archer has made quite a splash since it’s debut last month on FX. Created by Adam Reed and starring the voices of H. Jon Benjamin (as spy Sterling Archer), Judy Greer (as Cheryl and Carol), Jessica Walter (as Archer’s mother Malory) and Aisha Tyler as Archer’s fellow agent/ex-girlfriend Lana Kane, Archer is a hyper-look at the spy business but really is about the zany and wacky things the characters do, say and experience in every half hour. With espionage, global crises and bitter and angry spies all trying to outdo one another, Archer is a hilarious find and audiences are responding as it was just announced Monday that FX is renewing the series for a second season.

To find out more about the ins and outs of Archer, I participated on a press call with other journalists and star Aisha Tyler, who shared how she is able to say some of the outrageous lines, how her animated breasts seem to be getting bigger and what she would say if a feature film animated version of the series were to happen.

Jim Halterman: I want to know just kind of in general, how do you get some of these lines out without just busting up, like, “My vulva is smoother than a veal cutlet.”  How do you say that line?

Aisha Tyler: I was just talking to somebody about this, and I was saying that this show is in some ways just a series of out of body experiences because I feel so much kind of confusion and joy every time I go into the sound booth to record this stuff because it’s just such extraordinary language that I’ve never been able to use in television. My background is in standup comedy where I’m very free to choose the words and ideas that I express, but when I’m acting, obviously, and especially when you’re doing network television, there are a lot of constraints, and so this show is just a joy to do. I laugh constantly. I’m incredibly undisciplined. I fall all over the place. I spit into the microphone. I cackle. Luckily for me Adam Reed is as much of a doof as I am, and so we kind of just crack each other up, and the session takes too long and the sound recordist in the booth is tapping his watch, and we don’t care. We just lay on our backs like turtles and wave our legs in the air. It’s a joy. It’s a joy to make the show.

Lana Kane is a sassy spy and former girlfriend of Archer.

JH: You’re so good at comedy, but I’ve also seen some of your dramatic work, like I saw the movie .45that I thought you were so good in it. I wanted to know which, I guess, muscle is more difficult for you, drama or comedy? Which one is a little tougher for you to get into?

AI: That’s a really good question. I’ll say two things about it. Comedy is the muscle that I’ve trained probably the longest and the most intensively. It’s how I got started in entertainment, and because I do standup and that’s really my own…I’m on stage for an hour plus at a time, and it’s just me, and there are no lights and no do-overs. It’s very strenuous, but it’s the muscle that’s most well trained. I love doing drama, and when I started I was very lucky. I did an episode of Nip/Tuck several years ago that was just an extraordinary role, and I was really fortunate to get it, and I was able to do something that I was really proud of with the role, and I started to get a lot of drama (more…)

The CW’s addictive new series LIFE UNEXPECTED airs tonight at 9/8c on the CW network!!  The following link will take you to a clip from tonight’s show featuring stars Shiri Appleby and Kerr Smith when the radio show that their characters run is bombarded with questions that a bit too personal for them to want to answer (or face!).

LIFE UNEXPECTED \”Truth Unexpected\” clip

I won’t string you along through an entire blog with promises of some kind of priceless nuggets about tonight’s season premiere of Lost.  I got nothing. I was all set to watch previewed episodes on the press site where ABC posts all their screeners and tease and taunt you but, alas, there was nothing there. Some clips. Some previews. Some press clips from the recent TCAs. Well, like you, I’m stuck waiting which makes sense because in this age of immediate news, spoilers and other internet scoops, someone out there would get hold of the episodes and spill the beans and, honestly, who wants that?

So, let me ask this…what is it about Lost, which airs tonight on ABC at 9/8c, that has captivated AND frustrated us after all?  It can’t be merely the mystery about the island, why our Oceanic 815 castaways are there, the black smoke monster, Jacob, Locke, etc. It comes down to two things – the storytelling (duh!) and trust.

Sure, the ride from the first episode to tonight’s sixth season opener hasn’t been an easy one. After one of the best first seasons of any series, Lost stumbled along the way with twists and turns that either didn’t make perfect sense or just didn’t take us where we thought we were going but us diehards learned to trust creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse early on and just went along for the ride.

One other television cult classic comes to mind when thinking of a series where you just had to keep the faith in terms of where things were going. In the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) died and was revived, the series took a dark turn as our spunky heroine went to the mopey place but, through it all, we trusted Joss Whedon to get us out and, of course, he did. We may not have always enjoyed the ride but we never wanted to get off. The same thing can be said for Lost.

In the recent press for the show, Cuse and Lindelof have both said that they are not sure if fans will love where the sixth season takes them but, like any good writers, they themselves have to have faith in their storytelling. We can ponder endlessly about the fact that John Locke (Terry O’Quinn) is really dead and his body is just being used now for not-so-good purposes (if that’s even what’s really happening) or if we have to endure more of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle (sounds like we will) and will Jin and Sun find their happy ending (I have a feeling they will for some reason since these two have been the secondary romantic core of the series)?

Regardless, I’m in. Take me where you want, Cuse and Lindelof. I’m not promising that I won’t bitch and moan if something doesn’t jive with me but even then I’ll probably only do so half as loud because I trust you know how to steer this ship home and give us a great story.

Leave me a comment here and tell me your favorite LOST story from the entire series. Was it Charlie’s death? A bearded Jack screaming to Kate in the present “We have to go back!”? Or the death of Mr. Ecko?  Tell me in the comments below.

Some really terrific DVDs are out in stores or to buy online.  You get a little classic TV in a certain oil soap set in Texas, a period piece with one of the most acclaimed British actresses of our day and what about something for the motor-head in your life?  They are all here…read on…

Want it? Go buy SOUTHLAND today!

Southland: The Complete Season Uncensored Southlanddebuted less than a year ago and already has an interesting history.  Highly touted and brought to the air immediately after the 15-season running ER ended it’s run on NBC. Both Executive Produced by John Wells and Southland featured a first-rate cast including Regina King, Benjamin McKenzie, Michael Kudlitz and Tom Everett Scott. The series focusing on the rookie cop (McKenzie) tries to find his place among his veteran colleagues. Set in LA, the show definitely doesn’t focus on the glamour of the city but, instead, on the gritty side of crime and dark underbelly. The acting is top notch, directing and writing superb and, well, when NBC abruptly dropped the series to make room for Jay Leno’s ill-fated prime time show, many thought the show’s days were numbered. Enter TNT, where all the first season episode are being shown and, if we’re lucky, there will be new episodes produced, as well.

For now, get your first season copy of the crime drama wherever DVDs are sold or you can go directly to www.SouthlandDVD.com to get your copy.

The miniseries that inspired the movie is out on Tuesday

Edge of Darkness (BBC America) No, it’s not the Mel Gibson movie that opened this weekend but, perhaps better if you haven’t forgiven Mr. Gibson for some of his personal controversy over the last few years, it’s the BBC miniseries on which the theatrical film was based. Six fifty-five minute episodes aired in this series when it first aired in 1985. The story revolves around policeman Ronald Craven (Bob Peck) who tries to unravel the murder of his daughter (played by Joanne Whalley) but his investigation takes him deeper into the frightening underbelly of government and corporate cover-ups and nuclear espionage!

The director of this acclaimed series, which did so well when it first aired that it was immediately aired again on British television, is Martin Campbell, who would go on to direct the current remake starring Mel Gibson.  Funny how things come back around, huh?

The DVD release of Edge of Darkness comes to DVD on Tuesday from Warner Bros Home Video.

Cranford and Return to Cranford are two of the most entertaining, fun, touching and enjoyable movies to come out of the BBC in a long time and the recent run of the films on PBS were a huge audience success. The time is 1840 and the town of Cranford and there’s change happening that the townsfolks aren’t sure they’re happy about. A new railway brings fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order, a handsome young doctor and stirs things up not only for his revolutionary medical methods but because the women are also finding their hearts aflutter.

Both movies bring poignant stories to the forefront but none of it would be possible without the stellar cast.  Is anything better than Judi Dench?  Well, Dench stars in both films as Matty Jenkyns along with Michael Gambon as Thomas Holbrook, who is Miss Matty’s admirer, the wonderful Imelda Staunton as Octavia Pole, the town gossip and  Eileen Atkins as Deborah Jenkyns, the moral guardian of the town.

The films can be purchased on DVD separately as well as in a collection with both DVDs together.  You can purchase the DVDs directly at www.bbcamericashop.com.

Need a dose of family drama? SIX Waltons movies are here for you!

The Waltons: The Movie Collection. When I was a kid, television was littered with family dramas like Little House On The Prairie and, of course, The Waltons.In an age of racier, more issue-oriented television as All In The Family, television execs and audiences alike knew that some members of the audience would not be ready to leave the old family value series behind. With The Waltons, the drama was just as intense and relevant but it focused on the growing up pains of the many Walton children as well as parents Olivia (Michael Learned) and John Sr (Ralph Waite). The series won many acting Emmys in its day as well as the coveted Best Drama Series in 1973 so it’s no wonder that the series would run for nine series and spawn half a dozen reunion movies for television.

There are six 2-hour reunion movies on this new DVD collection from Warner Brothers Home Video.  Set in the 1940s are A Wedding On Walton’s Mountain, Mother’s Day On Walton’s Mountain, and A Day For Thanks on Walton’s Mountain. Moving into the 1960s were the movies were A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (with Richard Thomas, who did not appear in some of the earlier movies), A Walton Wedding, and A Walton Easter, which celebrated the holiday as well as 40 years of marriage for John and Olivia.

Each of these films not only brings back a slew of memories of one of the most heartfelt family dramas out there (current dramas like Brothers and Sisters could learn a thing or two from the subtle display of story telling here) andThe Waltons: The Movie Collection is available now at any store or at www.waltons.com.

Vroom! Vroom! And now for something that should rev your motors and shift your pulse into overdrive, the BBC’s hugely successful and long-running series Top Gear has now released seasons11 and 12 on DVD.  Pick both of these editions at www.bbcamerica.com but for more insight, here is a breakdown of each season’s episodes.

Top Gear Season 11: Accessible to everyone and full of stunts, challenges and special segments, Top Gear 11 is irreverent, witty, and passionate. The charisma and enthusiasm of the show’s presenters have made Top Gear a worldwide megabrand attracting a global audience over 500 million in more than 20 countries. This season’s highlights include a car chase in old traffic cop bangers, a race in the French Alps against extreme skiers, a race across Japan with a Nissan car versus public transportation, a cross-country fox hunt with Jeremy as the prey, and a Brits versus German Top Gearchallenge. Of course, this season includes serious car journalism too, with exhaustive road tests of the latest models, man versus machine experiments, weekly power-tests featuring the world’s most exotic supercars, and all the tried-and-tested Top Gear favorites.

Top Gear Season 12: The world’s biggest car show returns with a crash, a bang and an overwhelming smell of burning when Jeremy, Richard and James buy second-hand trucks and turn their hands to being truck drivers – which turns out to be a lot harder than they thought. The boys travel to the USA to take three new generation big-engine “muscle” cars on an epic road trip from San Francisco to the heart of Utah; they are challenged to drive from the heart of Switzerland to the North West coast of England on just one tank of fuel; and James travels to the frozen North to discover why the Finns are such good racing drivers. All the tried-and-tested Top Gear favorite segments return too, including the Stig, the news, the “cool wall” and the “Star in the Reasonably Priced Car,” which in this series features chat show legend Michael Parkinson, London Mayor Boris Johnson, musical legend Tom Jones and Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg.

The cast of LIFE UNEXPECTED

With my own experience in the television writing game, I’d been told for years that to get a TV show on the air, to quote Gypsy, ‘you gotta get a gimmick if you want to get ahead.’ High concept, procedural format, follow the latest trend (vampires anyone?) and never forget that character dramas don’t sell. Well, while I polish my latest family drama script, I am more than a little thrilled to see a character driven show like the CW’s new Life Unexpected come along.

The ads have been touting the new hour-long drama, which premieres tonight at 9/8c, as a cross between Juno and Gilmore Girls. Accurate? Well, yeah. But, more importantly, I’m glad to report that fans who have felt a void since GG or Party of Five or any other character-driven drama left the air will soon feel that void superbly filled. Life Unexpected focuses on a foster teen named Lux (played pitch-perfect by Britt Robertson) who is reunited with the 30something parents (Shiri Appleby andKristoffer Polaha) who don’t happen to be a part of each other’s lives. What follows is  how the three of them (and a few supporting characters) adjust to these surprisingly new directions in all their lives. Sharp, realistic dialogue, good stories balanced between humor and drama as well as solid acting have the reins here and, if there is any justice, Life Unexpected will be around for a long time and spawn more character dramas.

Many moons ago when Life Unexpected creator Liz Tigelaar was working on Dawson’s Creek, I was working as an Executive Assistant in the drama department at Sony Television and our paths nearly crossed more than a few times. Through a mutual friend and having that Dawson’s connection, I reached out to Liz and we chatted about how she got the show on the air and what fans can expect from Life Unexpected.

Jim Halterman:  How on Earth did you get a show on the air that wasn’t a medical/legal franchise or filled with vampires?

Liz Tigelaar: I literally don’t know! I’m kind of shocked myself. I think for the last season pick-ups we were the only show that wasn’t like that so I don’t know how we lucked out. I think in a way the similarities to Gilmore Girls helped us. We were pitching it as Knocked Up fifteen years later and based on what was happening at the time it worked in our favor. We started developing this about two and a half years ago and it seems so long ago but it’s just how it worked out. I think with Gilmore Girlsleaving the network there was a bit of a space for a show with that kind of feel – a young parent/teenage kid vibe so we kind of slid into it. We felt really lucky.

JH:  Tell me about shooting the pilot presentation and how that won the CW execs over.

LT:  I think a large part of it was Gary Fleder, who directed the pilot. We actually got the money to do it as a presentation [Note - a pilot presentation is a scaled down version of a full pilot; usually only about 20-30 minutes for an hour-long drama] and we all talked about it but Gary knew most of all that if we shot a presentation we weren’t going to be competitive with their other stuff so we needed to create a pilot. The script was cut down to under 40 pages for the presentation and then we kept slowly adding pieces back in until we were a normal 42-minute pilot. That was all Gary and it was his great idea. We have a very streamlined pilot but it wasn’t truncated and nothing was missing from it. We never added any scenes to it when it got picked up. What people will see on Monday is the pilot we shot.

JH: As a television writer, I have always been told that family dramas don’t sell well but people still talk about great character dramas like thirtysomething and Party of Five.

LT: I agree. I met with a lot of writers for this show and writers who were really great and had a lot of choices to make, which type of show to be on and, of course, there were flashier shows and remakesof TV shows. I remember talking to one writer in particular and I said “We as writers always say we want these types of shows on TV but if we don’t make the decision to forgo the flashier shows for this kind of stuff, it’s never going to get on TV.” Luckily, I have a fantastic staff and I think we, as writers, have to believe in it. I think when something works you can’t deny it and this is one of those things and at least I hope so. You can’t deny when something is good. Friday Night Lights? Nobody can say that is not beyond an amazing show. You feel something and that’s obviously a show based on a book and movie but it never feels like that in terms of a gimmick. I love that show more than anything. Everything about that show is amazing – the writing, the acting, the set design, the lighting, directing, casting…it’s just amazing.

JH:  The cast is really strong but how easy or difficult was it to cast Lux? It seems like she’s the one that you had to make sure you got right for everything else to work.

LT: Actually, Britt was the very first person we cast and she was the first person we saw for the show. The CW called and said ‘We’ve got a girl and she’s got a lot of buzz around her and people are offering her stuff so you have to act fast.’ And, of course, I said ‘We’re not going to cast the first person we see. I don’t want someone forced down our throats because we hear that we’re going to lose her before we even see other people.’ We met with her and she walked in and she read three scenes on camera and myself and the other producers just looked at each other and were like ‘Done!’ We did see some more people while we waited for her deal to go through, because it took awhile, but when we saw her I said, ‘There may be another girl out there who is even more Lux or even better for the part but I don’t think there is and I don’t care. This girl embodies the character.’ I really wanted to cast somebody blonde probably because I’m blonde. You see certain characters a certain way and I always pictured her as a light-haired character. Britt couldn’t have nailed it more. Someone can audition and can do a good audition but she never misses. Every instinct she has is right. She does things that I didn’t even write on the page. She was so amazing. She knew every line to the pilot before we even got to Vancouver.

JH:  Talk to me about some of the choices you made with the other characters. The fact that Cate (Appleby) and Ryan (Dawson’s alum Kerr Smith) are a very likeable couple is surely going to make it harder for fans to root for Cate and Nate (Polaha) to get together.

LT:  It’s funny. That was a triangle that very much evolved when Kerr (Smith) came in to audition for the part. We offered it to him as a recurring but he would only do it if it was a series regular. He did that to branch out the part and that really changed the dynamic a lot. It made us invest more in Ryan. It didn’t change what happened in the pilot but the character of Ryan was always a good guy, a guy you liked to see Cate with but the fact that he was going to be even more integral than we imagined changed how we approached Ryan and especially Ryan’s relationship with Lux. Kerr, as an actor because of who he is, Kerr is so dead on in his choices, too, and he brings so much to the character. Kerr is so likeable and he’s made choices of how he’s going to play things with Cate and Baze and Lux that really work. We also really wanted to make it where every bit of logic says that she should be with Ryan. I love the idea that the guy who knocked you up in high school is your soul mate; it’s illogical. But what if he is? Whereas the guy who is the stand up guy and patient and mature and good guy and compassionate…that’s the guy you should marry so that is one thing that we really wanted to explore. I believe she should be with Ryan. I have no question but that doesn’t mean I don’t her to be with Baze.

JH:  Besides the love triangle with the grown-ups, can we count on Lux having some romance of her own?

LT: Definitely. Pretty early on in episode two we find out that she has a boyfriend, Bug, and it’s a kid she’s dated for a few years. He’s not exactly who you’d want your teenage daughter to be dating. He’s older and tattooed and shaved head so it’s not your kind of dream. She’ll also get involved with the quarterback at school and there’s going to be a big pull between her old life and her new life. We’ll see that she had a plan when she tried to get emancipated to move into her boyfriend and her best friend, who was also trying to be emancipated, and Lux wanted to make them a family.

JH:  Did you have much experience with the foster care system?

LT:  I was in foster care for about a week from when I was adopted. The agency I had been adopted from puts you in a private foster care with a nurse to kind of transition you from the hospital to a family but obviously I don’t remember any of it but from what my parents have told me it was a very loving, great experience and I was only in there for a week. I thought it was important to the show. When you’re adopted, you kind of have this ingrained feeling of not being wanted. On the other hand, when you’re adopted by somebody you have this other feeling of being super wanted, wanted more than anything so you go from feeling not special to being extra, extra special. It was important for me that Lux never got to feel extra special. She only had those feelings of being wanted and that was the story I was interested in telling in how there are many ways to not feel wanted. It’s like the way Cate feels just as unwanted as Lux did but her feelings were different.

Life Unexpected premieres tonight on the CW network at 9/8c.

Conan O'Brien deserves better from NBC

The following is a letter Conan O’Brien released today about the last few days in regards to his late night show being pushed to allow room for Jay Leno to return after flopping in prime time.  All in all, it’s the viewers and Conan that are getting the short end of the stick.  Leno should retire gracefully and NBC should be ashamed for even let things get to this point.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan